I've noticed that The Roundhouse website is better than it was a few years back though. They now put you in a queue and tell you your queue number. I remember their website in 2008 when the first MBV gigs were announced; it crashed for ages.

They're trying to shun the touts as much as they can. The promoters tactic are acceptable and understandable. I blame the touts. To any touts/ebayers reading: when you cross the street after selling tickets to this gig at extortionate prices please concentrate at purely the profit you made and not traffic.

There's no 'tactics', nor hoops - you just exchange your paper tickets for a wristband after having shown photo ID and on you go. You make it sound like the promoter is asking everyone who wants a ticket to bum a horse or something

I managed to get around the queue by going on the Roundhouse home page, clicking 'book tickets' underneath the National subheading and going through that way. Took about 5 minutes and a bit of a refreshing but straight through to ticket pages.

I was 200 behind my friend who I was talking to on gchat - once she got her two tickets, she realised she was able to go straight back into the booking page and book more tickets, so I gave her my details and got my two. Might be worth trying for anyone still waiting but has a friend ahead of them...

"Dear Paris, we love you so much that we've decided to come for a visit next week. We'll play at Le Point Ephemere on Monday, June 24. You can buy tickets tomorrow, June 21, starting at noon from www.avosbillets.com&quot;

According to POINT ÉPHÉMÈRE website, their capacity for live gigs is 300 seated. Now that's what I call intimate.

that both people have to be present when you receive wristbands, not just the named person with ID. Major pain in the arse as my mate cannot get there till 9. Thought I'd let you know in case anyone else has the same problem, or you can think of some way around it that I can still get to see Local Natives.

try explaining to them and asking nicely if you can go in and see ln but they hang on to 2nd wristband, and you come back out when your mate arrives. if the problem is you potentially selling it on, that would solve it.

i should live in salt
don't swallow the cap
bloodbuzz ohio
mistaken for strangers (YESSSS! i might DIE when they play this)
sea of love
slipped
afraid of everyone
conversation 16
squalor victoria
i need my girl
this is the last time
all the wine (YESSSSS!)
abel
pink rabbits
start a way
graceless
about today (omfg)
fake empire

Some really good bits, some not so good. Let's be honest Berninger's voice isn't the strongest bless him and I've never heard him struggle as much as he did last night on certain songs. Still, enjoyed it overall but way below par from some previous shows.

I thought Matt's voice was absolutely spot on, and I wasn't expecting that. I just got caught in an odd spot where I wasn't close enough to the front to get into it, or far enough back to have a better view, and had tall people a few rows in front. One was wearing a hat. So I essentially couldn't see Matt for 95% of the set, and he is is most lot of the visual stimulation/intrigue at a national show - stalking the stage as he does, so that killed it a bit for me.

Atmosphere was also very flat where I was, until the encore, and there was a small group next to me fighting, and an annoying fella behind who when he didn't know lyrics would just bellow interpretive backing vocals very loudly. Was so crammed I couldn't really move off elsewhere easily though. So frustating really - thought they sounded on top form, just wished I could have enjoyed it more.

I still think that as an album it's the weakest (though still very good obviously) of the recent National albums but it has a lot of songs that sound incredible live and made for a good change of pace from the new stuff.

Local Natives are fucking shit. The kind of band you'd have expected third on the bill of an NME tour in 2007. Tasteless arrangements of forgettable songs. Seemed like a nice bunch, mind.

The National were excellent. Good sound, as good a setlist as you could have hoped for.

However, like someone up there ^ I got unlucky with the crowd. I had a couple of girls directly behind me talking and shoving for the fucking duration, and had to suffer half an hour or so or a pilled-up lad (who'd just pushed into a non-existent space in front of us) gurning and itching and shaking and rubbing his head and fidgeting which was oh really fucking distracting actually.

but quite enjoyed them. Doubt I'd buy an album, but I'm easily pleased by such things as keyboard players multitasking as percussionists and I thought the drummer was very good. Agree with Outspaced that the harmonies didn't work quite a lot of the time.

in comedy news, at the roundhouse my friend was saying how he thought daughter were a terrible band and were rubbish at primavera when i had to actually say "she's behind you" (the singer). and it was true.

or maybe I did, I'm not sure. Matt seemed to be having a go at the rest of the band halfway through one of the early tracks, but maybe that's just his way. I wasn't blown away like the first time I saw them, but it was still a great show. Lots of highlights - Secret Meeting, Conversatin 16, Apartment Story, but I think my favourite overall was Pink Rabbits - best track on TWFM.

she wasn't doing anything annoying though just standing there looking pretty but this is probably best left for a different thread.
Thought they were great, bit of a slow start and didn't really get going until Secret Meeting. Not my favourite on record at all but Squalor Victoria sounded immense.

Thought The National fell flat a couple of times, the first half of Bloodbuzz sounded very odd from where I was standing but when they got it right it was amazing. From the new album Pink Rabbits & Humiliation were standouts for me. Would have liked to have heard Don't Swallow The Cap when the were into their stride though.

Not the best I've seen them but still really brilliant. I think they might be the only band in the world whose songs I'd happily belt back at them every day of the week.

Matt was on good form (in terms of both his stage presence and his voice) and I got to fulfil every National fan's dream and pat him on the back as he surged past me during Mr. November. More importantly though, I finally got to see them play Secret Meeting. The guitars seemed to fade in and out of the mix where I was, which was kinda annoying, but they were there in all the important moments.

The most frustrating thing was the amount of idiots in the crowd, barging through people so they could talk through 80% of the set whilst standing right at the front instead of near the back. As for the odd pogo-er...calm down, it's The National. The atmosphere was just a bit lacking I thought, basically, although Vanderlyle made up for that I suppose.

sound like they'll make a lot of money soundtracking adverts for Ikea and banking organizations. The kind of adverts that read white goods and, hey, we're still hip, even in our late thirties.

Good show, really should've listened to Trouble Will Find Me more because the set was so heavy on it. Highlights for me were Abel & Vanderlyle singalong at the end. But it was so hot in there, went to the bar for a swift half at the end, missed Matt's walkabout :|

Yep it's bizarre. Hard to believe that there were people there who probably were in the online queue for a couple of hours and yet talked through loads of the set. Why do people waste their money on such an evening?

First National gig and thought they were amazing, great mix between the old and new setlist wise, and jumping on Matt during Mr November was a personal highlight. Vanderlyle was a great song to end on, too.

For me, although the lyrics to Vanderlyle are abstract at best it serves as a perfect closer and kind of makes sense to me (in the same way a David Lynch film makes sense). After 90 minutes of brooding rock and watching Matt sing about break ups, demons, skeletons, self loathing and fear, Vanderlyle feels like getting your soul cleansed. It's like the bands way of telling you everything will be alright in the end. Lyrics like 'It's all be forgiven, the swans are a swimming', and 'All the very best of us string ourselves up for love', and the fact that the song has a hopeful rather than a mournful in tone, makes it feel cathartic and helps to make sense of everything that has come before it in the set.

Young Natives had one nice song that ended just as it got going.
The National only clicked for me about 18 months ago so it was my first time seeing them. Everything I would've expected. What a lovely lovely band.

Crowd was less dicky than most in my experience. Inside the pillars anyway. Passing through the areas near the bars/doors it seemed more chatty but that's to be expected. Every other time I've been to the Roundhouse has involved turning up at 9pm and going straight in. This time the wristbanding meant the discovery of the nice ale in the bar downstairs and the roof terrace outside. Smashing. Visuals/lighting inside were nice too.

Yeah. Totally needed a cuddle after but just a really great night all round. Looking forward to Alexandra Palace.